Believe it or not the running attack that was formed in the NFL to take the pressure off a quarterback has decreased over the years. Many running backs that are coming into the league are simply playing different positions. Oakland Raider’s Hall of Famer Marcus Allen had spoke about the importance of the running gameand how it will be implicated back in the NFL. “We are sort of the last of the Mohicans, because unfortunately the running game isn’t emphasized like it’s been in the past,” Allen said. “Players that wanted to be running backs are playing wide receiver.””I still think, regardless of the trend, I think you can’t win without an established running game,” Allen said.
The speed of the NFl has frequently changed over the years. It is more of a pass down the field type of game , previous in the past it was “smash mouth” football. Allen is very optimistic that the running game will be back and have some strong words for running backs; “So all you running backs out there don’t lose faith,” he said. “The game will come back around and it will be a running game again, some time soon hopefully.”
Espn’s analyst Jon Gruden had echoed the same statement about the importance of running backs in the league. “If you wanted a strong running game, you needed to get a great running back,” Gruden said in a recent conference call. “That was how your offense was set up, to run the football, be a good play-action team. Those times obviously have changed.” You can not control a game throwing the ball over 40 times, you are putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on your quarterback.”
Quaterbacks can launch over 30-40 passes a game, but without a running attack it is impossible to even keep the defense at bay. Look at what happened in this year’s Super Bowl. One team was the highly explosive go down the field offense,while the other team controlled the defense with the running game. Guess who won. The team that had won was the team that ran the ball. The running game will come back in a few years, but we will have to wait patiently for it.
